29110 Noel? Actually, there’s 15 of them.

Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

 

I rather think I should have been quicker than my 25.21, but I was held up by some of the cute misdirections, such as the Spooner clue and the one with the artful use of punctuation, which I was determined to solve properly before submission. This was a pleasant enough end to my Christmas Day, perhaps not quite a cracker, but rather more than just a stocking filler.

As with yesterday’s I didn’t detect anything particularly seasonal about the puzzle, in its way a respite from the relentless Yulification of everything else in the past month and more.

Definitions underlined in italics, unneeded letters enclosed in [], the rest hopefully self explanatory.

Across
1 Whacking army officer with rope that’s spun around (8)
COLOSSAL – The army officer is a COL[onel], and the rope is a LASSO which you need to spin round.
5 Virtual assistant engaged by very great underworld boss (6)
OSIRIS – I am informed that SIRI is a simulation that fields question and commands on something made of Apples, which if you place it within OS for outsize (or very great) produces the Egyptian god who supervises, among other things, the realm of the dead. Did our setter miss a trick by avoiding a more apposite derivation for OS?
10 Eulogistic comment out of place in inspection (5)
AUDIT – A eulogistic comment is a PLAUDIT, which (runs) out of PL[ace].
11 Western producer of cheap pink elastic (9)
PECKINPAH – Sam, creator of Straw Dogs and (especially for fans of ISIHAC) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia as well as some westerns, an anagram (elastic) of CHEAP PINK.
12 That woman’s going to dismiss a wartime danger (9)
SHELLFIRE – A charade of SHE’LL FIRE.
13 Cover of awful seat where you possibly keep still (5)
ALBUM – The outside cover of A[wfu]L plus BUM for seat. You might keep a still photograph in an album.
14 Drop player who won’t start with team (7)
SUBSIDE – A player who doesn’t start sits on the SUB’s bench while his team or SIDE kicks off.
16 Note this swimming stroke that’s gone wrong (6)
MISHIT – The note is MI, and “swimming” tells you to anagram THIS.
18 European houses finished in capital (6)
SUPERB – The European is a SERB, insert (your time is) UP for finished.
20 Film with violent evildoer / hero uncovered (7)
SLASHER – Clever use of punctuation: / is SLASH, uncovered hero gives you the middle two letters ER.
22 Start of month on cape in scenic island (5)
CAPRI – C is an accepted abbreviation for Cape, add the slightly abbreviated APR I for the start of that month.
23 This could be offensive weapon guards put on (5,4)
SWEAR WORD – SWORD for weapon “guards” WEAR for put on.
25 What trawlers may do about initially lucrative contract complaint (5,4)
CATCH COLD – Trawlers might CATCH COD, insert the first letter of Lucrative.
26 Retiring crime lord stuffing a drug in part of cell (5)
ANODE – Slowed by trying to think of a biological rather than electrical cell. The crime lord is a DON, reversed into A and E, the latter, I’m informed, being a drug.
27 Wade through river during sport and exercise (6)
PERUSE – R[iver] is placed between PE for sport and USE for exercise. PE is a bit loose for sport: in my youth PE was games. But it’ll do.
28 Left behind at large duty-free zone (4,4)
FREE PORT – Left is PORT, quite literally behind FREE for at large.
Down
1 Having drained cocktail, serve discriminating type (8)
CLASSIST – Remove the contents of C[ocktai]L and translate serve into ASSIST.
2 Spooner might use this day to get into Paris Match articles (5)
LADLE – Ah, so not a Spooner clue! D[ay] bracketed by LA and LE, the sort of articles you might find in Paris Match.
3 Least peculiar menu items for dieters? They’re often on the house (9,6)
SATELLITE DISHES – An anagram (peculiar) of LEAST followed by LITE DISHES such as dieters might be obliged to eat.
4 Inform secretary over introduction of potential extra income (7)
APPRISE – Your PA or secretary is turned over, add the first letter of Potential and a RISE for extra income.
6 Flight from airstrip’s rescheduled, carrying a large luggage item (6,9)
SPIRAL STAIRCASE – I’ve learned that whenever you see flight in a clue, it’s to do with stairs, so here you anagram (reschedule) AIRSTRIP’S, insert A L[arge] and add CASE for luggage item.
7 Abridged book by Plato on peace in print again (9)
REPUBLISH – Plato wrote Πολιτεία, (The) REPUBLIC. Knock off the end, and replace with SH for “peace”.
8 Model caught part of skirt, say, in it (6)
SCHEMA – C[aught] plus HEM of skirt enclosed in SA, sex appeal, for it, as in the It Girl and similar expressions.
9 Con’s imprisoned about riot (6)
SCREAM – Son is SCAM, enclosing in durance vile RE for about. Scream/riot as in a particularly successful stand-up act.
15 Time saved by rude person with a title for TV programme (4,5)
BLUE PETER – Still on air after an incredible 66 years, the world’s longest running children’s TV programme. A BLUE or rude PEER or person with a title includes T[ime].
17 Democrat that is blocking ex-president’s inclination (8)
GRADIENT – D[emocrat] I E (id est, that is) interrupting the smooth flow of Ulysses S GRANT, potus 18.
19 See overseer’s instruction to repeat hard work (6)
BISHOP – An instruction to repeat is BIS, add H[ard] OP[us] for work.
20 Meagre capital of Santander bank? (7)
SLENDER – Capital of Santander is, natch, S, and a bank is allegedly an occasional LENDER.
21 Stride around island, climbing frozen mass (3,3)
ICE CAP – Stride is PACE, around is C[irca] and Island is I. Assembled, reversed (climbing), and redistributed.
24 North-facing bathroom contains very round moulding (5)
OVOLO – North facing instructs you to reverse LOO for bathroom, then you insert V[ery] and add another round O. “A moulding with the rounded part composed of a quarter of a circle, or of an arc of an ellipse with the curve greatest at the top”. Just so you know.

36 comments on “29110 Noel? Actually, there’s 15 of them.”

  1. No problems (and I especially liked SLASHER), but I feel strongly that a differently worded definition should have used for FREE PORT.

    1. Absolutely. I wasted a load of time thinking it can’t be FREE anything if free is actually in the clue. I know it happens, but it usually a short word that can be viewed as just a sequence of letters. Here it is the same actual word with the same meaning as in the answer. That is surely to be deprecated.

  2. I thought the non-Spoonerish use of Spooner was nicely balanced by the appearance of ‘free’ in both wordplay and solution. Definitely, a setter who likes to play with your mind, which is fine by me.

    I had to look up ISIHAC but not Alfredo Garcia, which may say something about my own mind.

    27 minutes.

  3. I was defeated by ANODE, going for ALONE (meaning retiring) and AL CAPONE as the crime lord without CAP (drug)…and I missed the part of cell bit. I’ve vaguely heard of OVOLO (probably in these parts). It is amazing that I watched BLUE PETER as a kid (in the Valerie Singleton era, who I see. is 87) and Chris Trace (who died young at 59) and that it is still going. I watched the beginning of Doctor Who too, but that has not run continuously.

  4. It’s interesting clueing PECKINPAH as “film producer” since the director, Sam Peckinpah, was notorious for his battles with the producers of his movies. Producer here must just be used in a more general sense, not specifically referring to the film meaning. I would think Peckinpah is most famous for his Westerns, Ride the High Country, Major Dundee, and especially The Wild Bunch.

  5. Slowed down getting FREEPORT as I didn’t think the setter would provide half the answer, but it had to be. Thrown by the spooner clue but saw what was going on eventually. Liked SCHEMA, ALBUM, SWEAR WORD, CATCH COLD and SUPERB. COD to ANODE.
    Thanks Z and setter.

  6. Took a while as I was watching the Australia v India Cricket test at the same time where a 19 year-old scored 60 off 65 balls. very hard to concentrate on the crossword. Despite this I managed to steadily solve a most enjoyable puzzle. COD SATELLITE DISHES. The Spooner was nice misdirection. BLUE PETER was a write in once I got the starting B as it turns up a lot. Most were easy to parse except for OSIRIS.
    Thanks Z

  7. 42 minutes after a very slow start with OVOLO (actually unknown to me) as my first one in.

    I didn’t understand the parsing of SLASHER and intended to return for another look, but then forgot. I was also distracted by the double use of FREE at 28ac and PECKINPAH clued as ‘Western producer’ which I trust were intentional misdirections by the setter rather than oversights.

  8. 62m 12s
    I really enjoyed that; but I agree with ‘Guy’ that using ‘free’ in both clue and solution is, at the least, dodgy.
    Among my favourites today were MISHIT, SUPERB, SATELLITE DISHES, BISHOP (‘See Overseer’!) and SLASHER. I missed the import of the punctuation so thanks to Z for that.
    Favourite, though, had to be the non-Spooner Spooner clue.
    PECKINPAH reminded me of a favourite trivia question….What was the name of the part that Bob Dylan played in ‘Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid’? A: Alias.
    Thanks, Zabadak!

  9. 14.50 (including an extra 30 seconds failing to notice that I’d neglected to answer 10ac).
    I thought this was a cracker, with at least two beautiful misdirections. One of the current BLUE PETER presenters appeared on Celebrity Mastermind this week (no spoilers, but she did quite well).
    LOI AUDIT
    COD SLASHER

  10. 31:46, I also hesitated over FREE PORT because of the FREE in the clue. LOI SUPERB. Not an easy puzzle but also no real problems. Thanks setter and blogger

  11. A rather languid 32.13 today, enlivened by some really enjoyable clues (OSIRIS, LADLE and SLASHER my favourites). Thanks Z and setter.

  12. 24 minutes. Gentler than yesterday’s. I liked the cutlery-related ‘Spooner’ and the ‘See overseer’ but wasn’t a great fan of the appearance of ‘free’ in both clue and answer at 28a. Favourite was SLASHER, which, with the cricket on in the background, reminded me of Ken “Slasher” Mackay, an Australian test cricketer of the 1950’s-60’s; you wouldn’t have ever caught him making 60 from 65 balls!

  13. 48 minutes. I’ve led a sheltered life and have never heard of, let alone watched, a SLASHER movie. I did know SAM PECKINPAH though, if only through Dylan. My favourite westerns were with Roy Rogers at Saturday morning flicks. I remember Slasher Mackay too. He made Trevor Bailey look dashing. I think I may be getting too old for the new look Times. A stretching puzzle. Thank you setter and Z.

    1. And just to mention that, in case you didn’t scroll far enough, the guest blog on the TfTT Christmas Special is up.

  14. 9.03, so clearly on the wavelength today. I knew I knew the director, although needed the crossers before I properly remembered him. The ‘slash’ was a smart device.

    Thanks both.

  15. 20:25 – an unfinished feel to the FREE PORT clue, which seems a revision or two away from the required standard, but otherwise a slowish but unproblematic solve.

  16. Off to a quick start with COLOSSAL and LADLE. Liked the misdirection there! Ground to a halt for a while in the SW, but eventually saw CATCH COLD and the excellent BISHOP. Then SUPERB, SUBSIDE, BLUE PETER and finally PERUSE came in a rush. 27:18. Thanks setter and Z.

  17. 23:47

    Seem to have kicked any typical Christmas slowness – certainly helped getting the first two acrosses off the bat, giving plenty of fodder for the downs. Having said that, SATELLITE DISHES held out for a long time, before finishing with BISHOP and SUPERB. Lots to like in this puzzle with some nice PDMs (CATCH COLD and the aforesaid 3d). I feel I have seen OVOLO in these parts before – don’t know why I was aware of this word otherwise.

    Thanks Z and setter

  18. Really enjoyed this one, held up by the Spooner for a while, and had to guess OVOLO, otherwise about 30 minutes in two sessions with a break. Too many good one to mention, all said above. FREEPORT was a bit weak.

  19. I agree with the majority who disliked the FREE PORT clue for duplication. Surely an oversight. This seemed incredibly difficult at first and I wondered when I was eventually to get started, but I did so and ground it out in 71 minutes. Yesterday’s in comparison was, for me, much easier. Liked the see overseer (although again there is an inelegant repetition) and the Spooner who wasn’t. Missed the slash, good clue. PECKINPAH I had to look up because I’d forgotten him.

  20. Fairly quick BUT, had SCHEME. Damn.

    Agree with the arguments re Free port. Odd clue. I liked SPIRAL STAIRCASE.

    Thanks Z and setter.

  21. 51 mins but spent much of it asleep, par for the course methinks. Not the crossword’s fault, mind you, rather enjoyed it. Favourite was the /ER.

  22. Had to do this in bits throughout the day, as we were visiting relatives on the south coast, which involved two long drives.
    Took a while to get started, and I ended up with the bottom half solved first. Liked the Spooner clue and LOI SCREAM.
    Quite difficult.

  23. No real problems with this, though I needed a while (and most of the checkers) to get PECKINPAH, had to trust the wordplay for OVOLO, and just biffed SATELLITE DISHES

    Thanks Zabadak and setter.

    FOI Osiris
    LOI Gradient
    COD Mishit

  24. A few short at the 45 min mark. The Spooner clue totally defeated me, very clever.

    NHO that PECKINPAH guy, and it looked very unlikely. And failed with SCHEMA for it=SA, which is on my pet peeve list.

    SLASHER clue was great with that punctuation.

    Did ok with the NHO OVOLO, and words whose meanings I’m not 100% sure of PERUSE, and APPRISE.

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